The Deputy Mayor, Amen Mpofu, said the failure by government departments to settle their debts was impacting negatively on council’s ability to effectively carry out operations on service delivery.
“Service delivery depends on the rate of payment by the government departments and the debt is ballooning on a daily basis,” Mpofu said.
The BCC finance committee report shows that the Water Ministry tops the list of government departments indebted to the council, with a staggering debt of $2,287,676, followed by the Education Ministry, which owes the local authority $592,609.
The Home Affairs ministry owes $186,354, the Ministry of Defence $146,297, the Ministry of Local Government and National Housing $91,905, the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare $79,098, the Ministry of Transport $5,519 while CMED owes council $6,814.
The failure by government departments to settle their debts comes at a time when the local authority is unable to pay its workers, and has resorted to retrenchments.
Post published in: Business